Challenges ahead

A leading US cave rescue expert says many challenges lie ahead for the rescue divers whose job it is to get the boys out.

Anmar Mirza, co-ordinator of the US National Cave Rescue Commission, says they will have to decide whether to try to evacuate them or to bring them supplies in situ.

“Supplying them on site may face challenges depending on how difficult the dives are. Trying to take non-divers through a cave is one of the most dangerous situations possible, even if the dives are relatively easy,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

He says that “if the dives are difficult, then supply will be difficult, but the risk of trying to dive them out is also exponentially greater”.

There is also the problem of access to fresh water: "If they drink the water in the caves and it makes them sick, it could
hasten the problem that they are in, but if they don't drink it, then they are
also in trouble," he told AFP news agency.

Flooded 'beach'

"About the 13 missing persons: from the latest report from the [elite navy] Seal unit who went in and passed the junction - a moment ago, they managed to reach "Pattaya beach". Apparently, [the] beach is flooded. Then they went deeper - about 300 to 400m further, to higher ground. We found our younger brothers are safe."

Pattaya Beach is an elevated mound inside the cave which cavers have
named that way. Rescuers thought it could have provided the boys with a
refuge when rains flooded the cave.

1,000 rescuers

More than 1,000 people have been involved in the rescue efforts, including workers from China, Myanmar (also known as Burma), Laos, Australia and the US, says Nopporn Wong-Anan from the BBC Thai service.

The governor of Chiang Rai province said he could not give details of what they were planning to do next, our reporter adds.

Break in weather helped rescue

The governor of Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said divers used a brief period of good weather to push deeper into the cave, as pumping helped lower water levels.

The boys and their coach had pushed further down than initially hoped, the governor said. Divers had thought they would find the team on a ledge known as Pattaya Beach - named after the Thai resort - but that ledge was underwater.